


Life from Death

by SerpentPrideQueen



Category: Dark Shadows (1991)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Choices, Dreams, F/M, Ghosts, Love, Vampires, Victoria is a BAMF Post-1790, Witches, soul mates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-10
Updated: 2015-05-13
Packaged: 2018-03-29 21:04:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3910609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerpentPrideQueen/pseuds/SerpentPrideQueen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After her return from 1790, Victoria Winters discovers the past refuses to release her nor do mad men witch hunters. She must choose who she is able to trust and what the rest of her life will become. Otherwise, she if the next to fall away in the power-hungry goals of Angelique Bouchard.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Dark Shadows, its canon characters, and places are the property of Dan Curtis Productions. I am just taking the 1991 crew out for some exercise. Hey, maybe they will be in better shape when I bring them back.
> 
> My original characters belong to me. Please ask before borrowing.

Three days and nights had passed since Victoria woke freed from the noose meant to end her life back in her proper place in time. Her fears of Barnabas Collins persisted while her soul and mind battled with her torn heart. Despite her clipped bud of an almost romance with Peter, their shared friend who tried to defend Victoria on charges of witchcraft, Victoria loved Barnabas Collins. Yet, his existence troubled the young woman.

Because the rest refused to believe what she learned in the past, the broken young woman held back to remain silent in her bed. She knew what happened, the rip in the fabric of time which sent her into the Collinswood of the past, came about as a battle of intentions between Angelique and Sarah Collins. Good stood against evil for Victoria’s sake. Thoughts of both forced the one survivor to again grieve the losses. Yet, a thought touched the depths of her grief. Victoria was not the sole survivor of the tumult of the Collins family which began in 1790.

Her grief another shared with her. Grief she wondered how Barnabas endured after near two centuries alone. Were the people they loved still in his memories? Sarah was, this much Victoria felt certain about. Did he mourn those he murdered to survive? Millicent, Abigail, the nameless since? Or else, were his victims just cattle? Did he ever feel real love for her? Or was she his Josette reborn in his mind?

Yet, Victoria could not gather enough strength to ask for Barnabas to come to her sick room, forget the concept she would speak to him. She loved him, but how did she relearn to trust the vampire? He killed Daphne and others.

Cold unlike the weather outside began to flood into her room, soaked into her pores in spite of the thick blankets. A possessive chill of the grave encroached from the shadows of the room to slip under her bedclothes like so many hands intent to latch a claim upon her.

A knock on her door drove away the cold but not the fear from Victoria’s voice, “come in.”

“Victoria? Are you alright?” Julia gave a confused expression. Behind her Willie entered the room and seemed worried too.

“It’s nothing. Just fears of the past I suppose. Hello Willie.”

“Hi, Miss. Winters. Sure you’re feeling alright?”

“Someday I hope I will be. How is Barnabas?”

“Oh, he’s good. Worried about you though. He read about you in Sarah’s diary, even read some of it to me. About a game of tag and singing songs her Auntie didn’t like. Sarah really loved you, Miss. Winters.”

Tears flooded her eyes to force Victoria to swallow. “I loved her just as much. There are some questions I need to ask Barnabas. Is he here?”

Willie’s face lit up, lips turned up in a smile of delight. “Yeah, he’s downstairs now. I’ll … I’ll go get him. If you want that is.”

Victoria nodded and Willie rushed off to fetch the man. She did not want to see Barnabas Collins, but Victoria wanted Julia there alone. “How did you help him get into the sun again? No lies or covers. Please, the honest truth.”

“What makes you think what I say about your theory is less than truth?” Julia asked in a slow, deliberate caution.

Hopes of interruption Victoria suspected. “Not theory. Too much evidence. I need the truth. How often did Barnabas feed like he has these last few months over the centuries?”

“You did not hear this from me. Do we understand one another?” Julia charged to gain a nod from Victoria. A look to the door then Julia sighed.

“Barnabas only fed as he has in the beginning because he was starved the entire time from then to now. His father could not bear the loss of another child. So, Jeremiah chained Barnabas in a coffin hidden within a secret room of the family crypt. Willie stumbled on it by accident and released Barnabas. He hates what he is, Victoria. What that witch has forced him to become.”

“We both do,” Victoria whispered.

A dark and deep chuckle grew thick on the air to draw a gasp from Victoria’s throat. “That’s –“

No further words left her lips because air caught against a sudden blockage around her neck at the moment the world to her right exploded in a concussion of noise. Victoria feared for Julia and too for herself as the attack tightened more. Too close to the feel of the noose she once escaped. While Victoria struggled against her attack, the laughter once thick in the air condensed to the area behind her.

“You will not escape the death you richly deserve, witch!”

Shadows grew in her vision as her body endured violent spasms from the lack of air. Now, Victoria hoped Barnabas would come to her faster than before. He saved her from Trask once before, now the vampire alone might save her in either way Barnabas could. Weights tried to pull her upper eyelids down as another explosion erupted to her right. Muffled sound followed by a sense of calm dissolved the darkness along with Trask and his noose.

Sweet, storm scented, air flooded her nose and mouth when Victoria was able to draw in clear once more. Her body collapsed without control into strong arms. This was safe. Her rescuer held the young woman close as she wept in fear and pain. Her next inhale filled her sinuses with his scent. A scent which told Victoria the identity of her protector before the man ordered someone outside of they two.

“Check on Julia. I have her now. Don’t worry.”

Barnabas arrived in time and held her close to himself. A blink then Victoria let her body weigh him as darkness claimed her mind. Darkness exchanged for a beautiful spring or summer day warmed by the sun. Victoria noted she sat on a blanket near one of the places she and Barnabas walked before the rift swallowed her into the past.

Her belly was large and Victoria simply knew this was Barnabas’ baby growing within her. His nature she knew now lie irrelevant, given her unborn child. Victoria tried for a sense of confusion about how she became with child by him. Rather, her life radiated peace and contentment because the young woman had a place she called her home.

More so when he sat a plate beside her before the man sat so Victoria cuddle against his chest.  His arms and hands wrapped around her waist to rub over their unborn baby. This she knew they did without fail. But how had she forgotten the days before this?

“You are thinking too hard, my beloved.”

“And you know me too well.”

Barnabas chuckled. “Have I told you recently I am grateful you granted all of this to me?”

“Not today, unless your question counts?”

“You know it does not, my wife.”

His wife? Yes … they were married and had a baby on the way. “Then no.”

“Thank you, Victoria, for trusting me when we both needed that faith most. Thank you for accepting me. And thank you for our family.”

He combined with her hormones to make her eyes water each time he grew so sappy. “Thank you for trusting me when you held no faith in yourself. For helping to bring David and me home. And for the most wonderful kids imaginable.”

Cued, or so Victoria imagined, three kids ran into existence. David, older to maybe a teenager and happy, chased two children in the field before the couple. His head and upper body was soaked! Unless Victoria misjudged, the boy and girl were about the age of Sarah at her death.

“I’m gonna get you brats!” David shouted in spite of his smile.

The girl led the trio and made Victoria near cry with how similar to Barnabas’ dead sister the child appeared. Her blond curls braided in pigtails on either side of her head. The boy made the pregnant woman wonder if he looked the same as her husband had in youth. Dark hair and eyes, his father’s smirk, thin, with quick wit. Teenage years they would have to watch this one.

 “Pails or water balloons do you think?” Barnabas asked.

“With that amount of coverage, pails. Maybe two each.” Victoria chuckled then shifted.

Her movements alarmed Barnabas. “Are you okay?”

“Back’s sore and the baby decided to practice running. I think we have another prankster on the way.”

“Our David will be overwhelmed. No, sorry. I meant overjoyed.”

Victoria laughed. “He will be both as will we.”

“I am now,” Barnabas whispered before he nibbled on her neck.

She enjoyed the feel without a thought about his condition. One day she wanted this in life were this all a dream. Victoria moaned softly. “The kids will see us.”

“Tonight then?”

“As if I would tell you no with that sort of tease.”

Their shared laughter cut short at the screams of terror from their trio, deep in the trees. Barnabas helped Victoria stand, without argument about safety. Good, the man knew his wife by this time.

She chased after Barnabas at a slower pace because of the baby. He gained ground, but Victoria refused to wait to learn what happened to her children. Up a portion of the path near the top of Widow’s Hill, Victoria felt a hit from nowhere ram her off the path until she fell from the cliff. Her back hurt more as her hand made purchase with a jagged outcrop of stone. Above her was her husband in fear.

“Hold on, Victoria! I’m coming!”

So focused on her, Barnabas did not see the attack behind him. His wife did see. “Barnabas! Behind you!”

A bat too large for her to classify as normal latched onto his throat and Victoria knew he was turned back into a vampire before the man hit the ground and the day dove into sudden night.

“No!” She screamed for his life rather than hers when the stone gave way and she fell again.

The confusion woven logic of a nightmare gave time for so much but nothing in the same drop. To her left, Victoria saw Josette. Her lost friend fell with the pregnant woman to their deaths. Dear and near a sister to her, Josette’s face appeared broken from her suicide with rips to the flesh from the jagged rocks that waited to embrace the pair below.

“So too are you dear to me, Victoria. He who we love needs what we alone might grant. I tried, but Angelique corrupted my mind against our love. You now can turn the fates to life rather than death.”

“I don’t know how to!”

“Do not fear him, for he is still our love within. Our love from our hearts can set the true man within free! Trust him most when he holds no faith in himself!”

Victoria wanted the question answered. “Are we the same soul?”

“Souls are free but only within dreams.”

Victoria gasped until her chest gave a coughing fit long and harsh until the act left her tender throat sore. She knew this was real life with the pain. She learned this next when her hand rested against her flat tummy void of the baby Barnabas gave her in the dream.

More of importance, Barnabas still held her in his arms. He remained with her after how she reacted to what he was. Trust him when he has no faith in himself? Love from her heart. Well, Angelique had messed with the Collins family for too long.

His hand brought a glass with a bendy straw to her from the bedside table. “Here, Julia said for you to take small sips from the straw.”

Small as Victoria managed still hurt in her mouth’s pulls then the battle to swallow. Yet, she obeyed her love until the pain grew too intense. After he set the glass back, Barnabas wrapped his arms around her again. They sat in the silence a couple enjoys after they merge together for long and in the right ways. Words sang in touches and presence.  His strength with her acceptance.

The vampire had her body covered with a blanket, one Victoria remembered. She created the piece, her first, for Sarah centuries before. A comfort as her mind returned to a sleep void of dreams and full of priceless memories. Games, lessons, songs, so much yet the span of time with Sarah and Daniel went too fast.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A secret is let loose, a past is given, and Victoria has a true name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dark Shadows, its canon characters, and places are the property of Dan Curtis Productions. I am just taking the 1991 crew out for some exercise. Hey, maybe they will be in better shape when I bring them back.
> 
> My original characters belong to me. Please ask before borrowing.

When Victoria woke, her bedroom door muffled a number of angry voices in some sort of shouting match. For the beat of her heart, she feared discovery if the Collinses had rescued her to bring her safe from the jail … they would fight for her, right?

One Collins she knew had without retraction rubbed her back before she felt cool lips claim a spot on her scalp in a kiss. His voice held low. She hoped this would grant her more time with him alone. “You are safe and when you belong, Victoria. I promise.”

Fear dissolved in her muscles before she kissed his chest. Josette told her this man had the same soul she knew in the eighteenth century. The man of 1790 held her heart along with her trust. Like he, Victoria spoke in a hushed tone. “I know the truth, Barnabas. Please, do not lie about yourself to me now.”

“What would you want me to say?”

“The truth. All I ask for is the truth. How did you survive this long alone?”

Barnabas gave a sigh. “My father. He … I asked him to end my existence. What Angelique has turned me into I loathe. What I must do to survive I despise. But, despite my crimes and nature, the man still loved me as his son. Rather than bury a stake of wood through my heart, the man chained me within a stone casket inside the family crypt. A secret room opened by Willie as the man hunted for the family’s jewels Father and I hid centuries before. I lie alone for near two hundred years.”

“We are neither of us alone now. Right?” Victoria whispered.

A few moments swept pass before Barnabas wrapped her in his arms for a deep embrace. His relief washed into her being as tears filled his voice, “I promise you, Victoria, I will not hurt you of my free will.”

“You’ve protected me before,” she whispered in surprise. Memories of hungered kisses that ended abrupt without explanation filled her mind. Their last breakfast together. “Every turn when I was at risk you sent me away.”

“I will not hurt you,” Barnabas said in a harder tone.

Victoria suspected his hunger stirred. “I know that and trust you. But, I need to know. Am I myself or Josette in your eyes?”

Before the vampire answered the door opened before a swarm of worried people, Elizabeth leading them. “How are you?”

“Scared,” Victoria said in a soft voice. This hurt bad as swallowing.

“Do you know who that guy was and how he got out?” Roger said in a dismissive tone.

His sister stood between Roger and the couple on the bed. “That is enough, Roger. Just because you are unable to believe what you saw, do not expect the rest of us to fall into your fantasy!”

“I didn’t see him,” Victoria interrupted. “But I know that voice and laugh. It was the witch hunter, Trask.”

Weak, she rested heavy against Barnabas. His arms around her granted familiar comfort of both ages. This man knew what she endured, so conversations would be easier with him.

“This is ridiculous!”

“I know what I saw and fought against, Roger,” Barnabas argued. “We know that Victoria was stolen into the past. What makes the return of her persecutor so outrageous to your sensibilities?”

“You are talking like my son with that imaginary friend of his! Ghosts do not exist!”

“Sarah is not imaginary and neither is Trask,” Victoria argued as her voice grew weaker.

Elizabeth dotted on the younger woman. “Let us fight with my brother, Victoria. You rest there.”

Then the woman turned on Roger. “Explain how he vanished.”

“I can’t imagine!”

“And that is enough to blame the innocent? Is it mere coincidence you look very like that man?”

Her accusation took her brother by surprise. “Don’t read any more into that than coincidence, Elizabeth! All of this began –”

“Your arguments are thoughtless and unsubstantiated. Roger, after all Victoria has endured since her arrival, you will not set any blame on she or Barnabas. Our family’s curse began long before either of them.”

“Elizabeth. Let’s talk about this downstairs with the family.”

“We are all right here, Roger.”

All were confused by the matriarch’s comment, until Roger gave a glare. “I mean –”

“I know exactly what you mean, just I mean what I implied. Our family is all here.”

The siblings stared at one another until understanding lit the man’s face. “You and Alexi? No, you would not go there. Miss. Prim and Proper? There’s a lark! When were you going to say anything? In your will?”

“Alexi died going for help from his family in Paris. I could not end what he left with me nor would I had I the option.”

“Mom?” Carolyn asked. “What are you two talking about?”

Elizabeth sank within while Roger laughed. “This will be a treat! I can’t wait to see you explain how close that apple landed to the tree!”

“That is enough Roger!” Elizabeth snapped.

He sneered. “Not nearly enough! Miss. High and Mighty! If Mom and Dad knew then what I know now!”

“And this is why I kept the secret from everyone, especially you! Look at you gloating! I want to tell them without you present! Leave!”

“Oh is this not history repeating itself. Bets on how long before she takes the jump. Any takers?”

Carolyn pushed her uncle out the door before she shut the man out of the room. “Could he get any more arrogant? Now, who was this Alexi?”

Elizabeth sat on the bed near Victoria and Barnabas as a pained smile tilted her lips up. “Come sit here, Carolyn. It is a remarkable story now that life has come around.

“Alexi was a transfer student from France and my first love. I knew him in my last year of school. We … well, Roger was right. Then I was a bit wild and you do take after me. Alexi and I did not care what we had to do, we would be married in the spring. My parents forbade the match because of family history, but I didn’t care.

“Once we graduated, he was going to go home to plead with his family for us. He told me that in either case, he would return and I would go with him to France or anywhere we liked. The plane crashed in the ocean with no survivors.”

By this time, Elizabeth wept with her daughter wrapped around the woman’s frame. But her mother struggled to go on. “Weeks later, I became sick and learned thanks to a dear friend that my Alexi left part of himself with me. I was carrying his child. But, our family endured enough scandals and were in hard times with the businesses, I would not shame the family with a child out of wedlock. Instead, I went to the city and gave birth to my little girl.

“Since Alexi left a sign we loved and were united together, I took my girl as my victory. So, before I gave her up, I named her –”

“Victoria,” the young woman in question said. Tears filled her eyes at the impossible and wonderful turn in her life. She found her family. She had found her family!

Her mother drew the wounded woman into her arms for the first time with all known but one answer. Carolyn asked for her big sister, “what was his last name?”

“Du Pres. It’s why my parents refused. Roger made the same comment and it terrified them. But, I will not make the same mistake. You are my little girl too, Victoria. Now you are home in every way I can bring you home.”

“Talk about serious serendipity,” Carolyn joked. “Well, Gram and Gramps blocked you. But, you hurt my big sister, Barnabas. There will be sister hell to pay.”

Victoria accepted the pain as she laughed. Hidden in the arms of her family, she missed the proud smile on his lips but she heard the man say, “I would never bring Victoria harm of my free will. And were anyone to hurt Victoria, Carolyn, I would be the first in line to instruct them in the folly of their actions.”

“You mean behind me, Barnabas,” Elizabeth added. She kept hold of her first child without stop.

“That makes Andre and Natalie my family, and Josette too.” Victoria held pain from more than speaking.

How different would life have been in 1790 if she had known this? Would she and Josette have feigned they were sisters separated at birth? The fun they might have enjoyed.

Elizabeth hugged her first born again in joy. “Yes, they were. And I think they would have been proud of all you are had they known while you were with them. But, here and now you have a family that loves you. You have a home and your true name.”

“Is that why you hired Victoria, Elizabeth?” Barnabas asked.

“Yes. I intended to bring my daughter home to bring her home for good. Each time I wanted to tell you, life and events stopped me. Do you both forgive me?”

Both young women knew their mother asked them. To save further pain, Victoria nodded before she stole another hug from the woman. Her little sister chuckled. “Why would I need to forgive you? Yeah, I know. Two decades late on my Christmas wish and I’m not the big sister. Besides that, I’m good.”

David climbed into Victoria’s lap. “That means you’re my cousin. That’s even better than my favorite grown up.”

“Give me a break!” Roger’s muffled voice shouted from the hall.

Angry at her now uncle, Victoria made to stand up from those who loved her but did not get more than her feet on the floor. With a scream, she went face down to then start under the bed feet first. Barnabas leapt from her bed to latch a claim on his lady. David got a hanger from the closet then used this to jab at those attacking his family.

Roger came in to see the chaos and ghostly hands that went for his niece’s legs. When Barnabas had Victoria freed, the hands went for David. Roger stood there in shock While Barnabas attacked to save the boy. In the lack of victims, the hands evaporated to nothing.

A frightened David clung to Barnabas, Julia examined Victoria, and Elizabeth went off on her brother. “Is this enough proof, Roger?”

“What can we do about all this? Not like I have Bill Murray’s number on speed dial.”

“Be sensible!” Elizabeth growled.

“I’m being a realist!”

“No, you’re being a real dumb ass!” Carolyn shouted. “Didn’t even fight for your kid!”

“What could I have done from over here? Anyway how do you fight something in the shadows? Get the girl a babysitter twenty-four seven?”

Barnabas kept hold of the frightened David while they moved over to Victoria. Julia worked hard to protect the younger woman’s legs. Horrid scratches and bites lingered in her flesh. The enemy proved serious in their intent, but Barnabas lost too much to give up on his love.

“I’ve done all I can for now. The damage to her throat and legs need time to heal and are real, Mr. Collins. Steps must be taken to protect her.”

Grateful this was not his era, Barnabas decided to offer her an option his family would have found scandalous despite its commonplace nature even two centuries before. “Willie and I are able to drive the beings off, so we will protect Victoria.”

“Are you sure, Barnabas?” Elizabeth asked. “Your affairs in Boston and condition –”

“Boston can wait. As for my condition, Julia is near and I am sure can help us nurse Victoria back to full health. But I will not impose on either of you with my offer unwelcomed.”

Victoria took hold of his hand. Warm flesh that granted him a measure of hope. “With you, I know I am safe, Barnabas.”

“Having the pair in the same place would make treatment easier. And to move Victoria might prevent whatever spirit is after her.”

“No!” David shouted. “I want you here with me!”

His father glared at the child as Barnabas handed David over to Victoria. “I told you that boarding school was the better option.”

“For you, perhaps. But David needs his family and I will not let you take that from him,” Elizabeth said in a hard tone.

“If he’s even mine. Fine, when she leaves he does too.”

Elizabeth took a step forward in a coy born of an upper hand. “You forget, Roger. I have guardianship. I say what is to happen, not you.”

“That is a cold blow from you, Elizabeth.”

“But an honest one.”

Once he stormed out, his sister gave a hard sigh. “I fear for David.”

Upset that any man would treat his son with such distain, Barnabas knelt down to look at the boy. “I think you could use a small break from the arguing. Would you like to come with us and help Willie and I protect Victoria, David?”

The boy did take a few beats to think about it. For Barnabas, David showed love remained for the father and the child remained wise to hidden dangers. Yet, the vampire did not expect the answer David conceived. “I helped protect Victoria too. Maybe I can again?”

“Exactly. In fact, I think that were the danger to grow too great for myself and Willie, we will need one quick of wit to see options for escapes,” Barnabas answered. “And I am not patronizing you.”

“Most grownups do,” David accused with a glare in his eyes.

Victoria kissed the top of the boy’s head as Barnabas laughed. He smiled on the child and could see so much of his lost little brother within the boy.

“Well, you will find I am unlike most adults. But I will not force you either.”

Brave while not quick to trust, David made his choice. “I want to stay with my cousin Victoria.”

“Then you go get something warm on. The night outside is cold. Willie and I will stand outside.”

“Wait!” David cried out. Then he jumped up to turn on a lamp before the boy set the lamp from the table to the floor.

Quick of thought too, Barnabas saw what David intended. “Well done, David! That should work to keep the shadows at bay while we are outside.”

Within the hour, the group were bundled up, David and Victoria each had a bag packed, then Julia drove the group to the Old House.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Victoria and David have choices to make. Barnabas must face up to his past. Wise is the child who is silent and listens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dark Shadows, its canon characters, and places are the property of Dan Curtis Productions. I am just taking the 1991 crew out for some exercise. Hey, maybe they will be in better shape when I bring them back.
> 
> My original characters belong to me. Please ask before borrowing.

Victoria and David cuddled safe and asleep in the room Barnabas decided now belonged to the remarkable woman. He had Willie check the basement to find the once bricked up alcove open and bones of Trask visible. Someone had gone in and released the crazed charlatan. If Angelique had not filled enough of a role for an enemy, Trask would school the witch on destruction.

While Willie and Julia watched over the pair, Barnabas secured the lower area of the house. This night, the man felt the history along with his past with each bolt and room. He remembered moments alone with his Josette or Victoria, conversations, and thoughts. Victoria might have caught his eye had he not first met and fallen in love with Josette.

Since he knew now they were the same woman, her place in his soul the man understood. Hopes and dreams grew again with the faith Victoria held in him. Yet, they held the tang of fear beneath even as he climbed the stairs to rejoin the watch.

If he could not conquer his inner evil … no, he would not risk his Victoria. The treatment had to begin again.

As the tired vampire drew this conclusion, Julia came into his sight. He was but a few doors away from his lady. “Is anything wrong?”

“No, they’re still asleep. Barnabas, what about during the day?”

“Victoria knows what I am, Julia. As for David, I think the idea I was tired from night watch might cover sleeping all day.”

“And in time? What will the excuses become for him and the others?”

David ran screaming down the corridor. “Barnabas! Help!”

“What’s wrong, David?”

“The monster’s back! Hurry! Willie can’t hold him off much longer!”

All three ran for the open door to find Willie faced against multiple Trasks, some of who surrounded and neared a terrified Victoria. Barnabas took up his cane from the wall he left it against earlier as he stormed in to defy the monster who would steal his love.

“Leave my house!”

“I will have the witch, Collins!” Trask laughed until Barnabas sliced his cane through each face.

Willie attacked and won over the Trask he dealt with alone. Then the man collapsed. Barnabas gathered his beloved in his arms but spoke over his shoulder, “Julia, take care of Willie.”

Unseen by the adults in the room, a shadow began to take shape near Victoria and Barnabas. David glared before he made a firm choice. His feet ran over to the bed where his hand took claim over Barnabas’ cane. When hands grabbed at one of his legs, the boy used the cane like a weapon to drive the apparitions away. Just like Barnabas had, David jumped up on the bed before he attacked the larger shadow next.

His voice shrilled with his command, “stay away from them! You couldn’t find a real witch if you had a map and seeing-eye dog to help! Get out of here, you fake!”

Once the shadow faded, David slashed the empty space a few extra times to make himself certain the monster was gone. Not until his breath came in pants did he stop to watch the dark for danger. When Victoria called his name, tears filled his eyes to overflow before he sobbed and fell into her arms crying. Never had the child felt so deep a fear.

Barnabas wrapped himself around the pair to rock his lady and a boy he would be proud to call his son. “You brilliant and brave boy. I knew we would need you here with us and twice now you proved me right.”

“I don’t feel brave,” David complained.

“Oh David, brave doesn’t mean you feel no fear. Why look at some of our ancestors and the people they fought alongside centuries ago! Colonel William Prescott was not a fool to hide his fear, but he led his men still. Israel Putnam and Dr. Joseph Warren too were scared at the number they faced at Bunker Hill. So too were the original Barnabas and his younger brother, Jeremiah.”

“You were?” David asked to scare the adults. “I’m not stupid.”

Barnabas swallowed to face his fate. “None of us would say that. Brilliant, yes. Never stupid. And yes, I was scared. Not for the last time either.”

“Then why fight?”

“In our case, David, the British directly threatened our family’s liberties. They decided we were too prosperous for their tastes without enough voice in support of the King.”

“George the third,” David added from Victoria’s arms to the smile of the vampire.

Barnabas gave and nod. “Very good. Proves you pay attention. Father, Jeremiah, and I all fought under Washington. Father had to return home due to a wound that might have taken his life had we not a doctor visiting at the house. Jeremiah and I met up with one of our servants, Ben Stokes, in the war. The three of us held close to one another and that brought us all home. Ben lost his eye saving our lives at the Siege of Yorktown.”

“Bet you were really scared then,” David said.

“Terrified. However, I did what I had to so my family was safe from the Red Coats. Just as you did what you had to so Victoria remained safe. You proved you can be scared and brave at the same time. Not many boys your age could do that.”

Silence hung in the air until David gave a sigh. “Guess that sorta proves I’m a Collins, huh?”

“You proved it to me,” Barnabas answered before he cuddled the boy close.

Victoria smiled then gave David a kiss on the head. “And to me.”

While they all wished the topic hid, David had to know. “Why did you kill Daphne?”

His eyes shut. Barnabas wished he could undo that part of his past. “I did not know who she was at first. After that I feared she would remember me as her attacker. It is not an excuse, just the facts. I doubt you would want to hear pretty lies now.”

David shook his head before the boy glared at Barnabas. “You hurt my cousin Victoria and I’ll make you sorry.”

“And I expect nothing less from a brave boy like you. For now, I think the two of you need some more sleep. Julia, tomorrow night I want to begin the treatments again.”

“Barnabas, do you think that wise? The weaker you become, the more likely of an attack,” Julia argued.

Victoria understood what her love wanted. “But, Barnabas can’t be with us if he begins to lose control. That leaves us open for an attack just as likely.”

“And that faker ghost has nothing on me,” David added, the cane still in is hands to the amusement of the adults.

Then Barnabas laughed. “Seeing-eye dog?”

David sat up to explain as his face gave the vampire an expression of contempt. “Only a blind person would think cousin Victoria is a witch!”

Every adult joined in Barnabas’ laughter. “An obvious detail we grownups missed.”

“Then the faker is even older than you, Barnabas.”

“Oh? Why do you say that, David?”

“He missed it way back when!”

 

* * *

 

Near dawn, Victoria and David both returned to sleep, the boy’s hands clutched around Barnabas’ cane. Seated on the edge of the bed next to the pair, Barnabas smiled on the two. His family and not at the same time. His Josette reborn and so different from his lost love still. Two people who owned his heart also relied on him for security from an impossible enemy. Life was returning to mirror his past. Barnabas worried how similar history might weave itself.

His fingers set a light touch on Victoria’s cheek in love and fear. His love was a Du Pres by birth as much as Victoria carried the Collins blood in her. His father would have enjoyed this much as Andre might have. The knowledge he was sure might have made life easier on both of them. Victoria would have not faced the noose or his Aunt’s hate. Were Victoria to die as Josette had, Barnabas knew a number of individuals who would end his existence without scandal to their family. Centuries without his love he never wished to endure again.

With an equal gentle touch, his hand set upon the head of David. So brave a boy, Barnabas could see the child as his by Victoria. The child’s constant need for worth and confirmation the child was a Collins in Barnabas’ eyes troubled the weary vampire. What had Roger done to the boy which could leave David unstable in self-respect and faith? Barnabas intended to right the wrongs to give this child the pride and name of their family any way possible.

Cursed be the rising sun until he could endure the light once more. Julia’s soft voice spoke what he felt in his blood, “it’s near dawn, Barnabas.”

“I know, but I fear leaving them alone. David has made himself a target with his attacks.”

“Willie and I will do our best.”

“But that cannot be enough, Julia. They are my life and under threat. This is why I must begin the treatments again. Do you understand how important they both are to me?”

Victoria took a deep breath before her brown eyes opened. “Like you are important to us, Barnabas. I’m going with you. Willie can watch over David for us.”

“But, Victoria,” Barnabas said in a pained tone of grief and fear. He did not trust himself with her as he woke. Nowhere near the faith this woman held in him.

A groan and David stirred. “I’m going too! Someone has to keep you both safe if the monster comes back!”

“David,” Barnabas began until Victoria’s voice stopped him. “We will not accept a no, Barnabas. Get used to this. In a relationship, you have to give as much as you take. How much longer until dawn, Julia?”

With a glance at her watch, the older woman’s body language grew stiff. A bad sign. “Less than ten minutes.”

“Then there is no time for wasted arguments. Barnabas, even when you don’t trust yourself, I have full faith in you. Please, trust me.”

“If I were to harm you or lose you, Victoria,” he whispered. The tears in his eyes thick in his voice.

“Have faith in me. We can get through this together.”

Julia interrupted, “we barely have time to get you out of the light, Barnabas. Now is the time to go.”

“I can’t change your minds?” Barnabas asked.

The pair in his care both shook their heads before David reacted against a shadow about to snag at Victoria’s head. “Sorry.”

“No, you’re a good boy, David. Thank you.” Victoria assured the child.

His doubts challenged and fears for a day without him justified, Barnabas quickly gathered Victoria into his arms. “Willie, find a bed for David to rest on when you can take watch over us.”

“Sure thing, Barnabas.”

Just two minutes left, Barnabas settled Victoria in his coffin when soul erupted with another blast of fear. An eruption soothed by her warm hand pressed against his cheek. “Trust me.”

“How can you believe in me so?”

Victoria granted her love a deep smile buried up into the depths of her eyes. Their moment of peace ended in the clatter of a wheeled object of metal behind Willie. “Sorry it took me so long, Doc. This thing is heavy!”

“That’s quite alright, Willie.”

With swift expertize, Julia set up the canister of oxygen. “This way, Victoria will not suffer from a lack of oxygen. Will you get settled in already, Barnabas?”

Chastised but his love amused, Barnabas obeyed. Soon he was in his side with a tired Victoria in his arms. Julia fixed the hard plastic connector where the lid shut. “This way less likely for the tube to be cut off. Sweet dreams you two.”

“Thank you again, Julia,” Barnabas managed to mutter before his body ceased to live.

Victoria gave a nod before Julia gently shut the lid of the casket. Tired, and with a need for recovery time, Victoria snuggled closer to Barnabas’ body to whisper, “sweet dreams if you can, my love.”


End file.
